Tomato salad with feta cheese and “paximadi”

Yesterday I gave an evening academic talk to a group of  γraduating TESOL teachers so no time for cooking.  Daddy took the kids out for pizza. When I went back home I only had appetite for a salad. I made my favorite one.  Tomatoes, feta cheese,  parsley and “paximadi” –the ones made in Crete. “Paximadi” is very hard and crunchy  kind of bread. When mixed with the salad, it absorbs some of the olive oil and the juice coming of the tomatoes. The ‘paximadi’ becomes softer and the salad doesn’t get soaky. A full meal if you ask me!

Recipe

Ingredients

• two or three or as many as you like good quality tomatoes
• 250 grams or more feta cheese
• chopped parsley
• ‘paximadia’ or grilled bread
• olive oil

How to make: Use a knife to stub the `paximadi’ and make it crumble in a few pieces. Put in a bowl. Add the tomatoes cut in pieces and the parsley and olive oil. Sprinkle some salt before you put the olive oil.  Give the salad a good stir with a spoon and top it with feta cheese. I prefer to cut the feta in pieces.  Give another mild stir and serve immediately.

Notes and tips: If you cannot find ‘paximadi’,  drizzle a little olive oil on sliced bread, grill in the oven until crispy, let them cool off and add to the salad. If you are in the U.S. prefer vine tomatoes. I made a simple version with what I had in my fridge yesterday.  You can add, olives, green peppers, cucumber, capers and arugula and they all taste great! What you see in the photo is a really quick meal I put together for myself.  You can add more parsley and more ingredients and it will be majestic!

Cheese pie with no filo pastry!

Today I have for you the easiest  feta cheese pie ever! I found this recipe several years ago in Kristia Mavroidi’s book “183 Fresh Ideas” and it’s pretty yummy, more like a bread, though, than a traditional Greek style “pie”. But then you don’t need to have the filo in the freezer, take it out for thawing and buttering every single sheet!

Recipe

Ingredients

• 6 eggs
• 400 grams yogurt (“sakoulas” or in English “Greek style”  preferably)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 250 grams butter or margarine
• 1/2 kilo or 1 pound feta cheese
• pepper, NO SALT

How to make: Beat the eggs with the yogurt and add flour+baking powder mix. Melt the butter or margarine  and when it’s cooled off a bit, add it to the egg mix. Crumble the feta cheese and add it and the pepper to the egg mix. Give it a good stir, put the mix in a buttered pan (round or rectangular it doesn’t matter) and cook it in the 375 F/190 C oven for about half an hour or until light brown.  If you know me, you have probably guessed it already that I made the pie in the photo with whole wheat flour… Enjoy!

Chicken with a veloute carrot sauce

I just cooked this one!  It’s still steaming hot. When I cook chicken, I prefer recipes that have the chicken cook in liquid. Otherwise, the chicken goes too dry if you want to serve it the next day. This is a nice recipe with a smooth, velvety, carrot and potato sauce andCredits go to Kristia Mavroidi and her book  “183 fresh ideas”. I used chicken breasts instead of the original recipe’s whole chicken (in pieces).

Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breasts
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1-2 carrots cut in four
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 big or two small potatoes cut in four
• 3/4 white wine
• 2 tablespoons cognac
• juice from one lemon
• salt, pepper
• 1 more tablespoon butter or margarine
• 1 tablespoon flour

How to make: Saute the chicken in a big, deep pan until light brown. Take it off the pan. Saute the onion, carrots and potatoes for  5 minutes. Put the chicken back in the pan, add wine, cognac and lemon. Add 1 cup water and let the food cook covered at low heat for 45 minutes. Take the chicken pieces out. Puree the rest in a food processor.  Wipe the pan clean, add 1 tablespoon butter or margarine and stir in the flour. Stir well until smooth (less than a minute) and add the puree. If the puree is too thick add some water and cook for 5 minutes. Pour over the chicken and serve it with mashed potatoes or a nice green salad. I’ll make the mashed potatoes tomorrow.

 

 

Artichokes with peas and carrots

It’s Monday and I don’t want to leave you without any ideas for your dinner today. Here’s  the artichokes with peas and carrots recipe I cooked yesterday. The quickest and easiest version possible!

Recipe

Ingredients

• half cup olive oil (more if you like it)
• 1-2 onions, finely chopped
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (or two cubes frozen)
• one bag frozen peas
• one bag frozen artichokes
• baby carrots cut in 2-3 pieces each
• dill, finely chopped
• salt, pepper
• juice from one lemon, optionally

How to make: Saute onions for 3-4 minutes, add garlic (optional) and saute couple more minutes. Add artichokes, peas and carrots. Add water to barely, BARELY cover the veggies. Don’t put too much water.  Probably a cup of water is enough. Sprinkle salt & pepper,  and add dill & lemon.  Let the food cook in low heat for about half an hour. Ready!

Notes and tips: Leave the dill out if you have kids who don’t like seeing the green things in the food. I like putting just a little more water and thicken it  by adding 1 tablespoon flour melted in a little water. This is a nice, high fiber recipe. For a less quick version you can of course buy fresh artichokes but that’s too much work for me and 4 out of 5 times the artichokes in the market are way too hard. My favorite artichokes recipe is ‘a la polita’, with potatoes and carrots but  today I wanted to raise the fiber content with peas,  plus I didn’t have potatoes.  It’ll be coming, though. I cook it quite often.

Apple pie

Thanksgiving was wonderful! I know, it’s a bit too late for my U.S. friends to post an apple pie recipe but keep it for a later day. This is the best apple pie recipe,  praised by many who tried it. My daughter is the  number one fan and she made this one. I only helped with the crust.  It’s almost become a tradition to spend Thanksgiving with our friends and relateives in NY with this pie was our contribution. Back by popular demand! We made the same recipe last year, too.  I found it here, in English.  I’m a little behind with the posts so I’ll let you check the site. The instructions are excellent. When I have more time, I’ll recreate the recipe here, just in case the link stops working. The only variation that I made is in the flour. I used whole wheat flour which gives the pie an unexpectedly dark look but it’s healthier that way. Also, the apples were sticking out but my daughter and I decided to leave them in and we didn’t regret it.

Stay tuned for a cheese bread recipe I made last Wed, artichokes with peas and carrots that I made yesterday and chicken with rice today.

Spinach with rice (spanakorizo)

This is a great and healthy vegetarian dish, full of aromas, the way I prefer it, but so versatile you can give it any twist you want picking different spices.  My husband loves it and the kids are happy.

Recipe

Ingredients

• olive oil for the pan
• 1 onion finely chopped or  5-6 shallots cut in pieces
• 1-2 cloves garlic finely chopped (or 1-2 frozen cubes)
• 1 approx. 1/2 kilo bag frozen spinach
• 1 1/2 cup Jasmine or Basmati rice
• salt, pepper, oregano, mint (dry if you must)
• juice of one lemon

How to make: In a big, deep pan, saute the onion until tender. Saute the garlic for a minute or two. Add spinach and saute until soft. Add (rinsed) rice and saute a few more minutes. Add salt, pepper, oregano optionally, fresh mint if you have it else dry (sprinkle generously). Add about 2-3 cups water, add lemon juice to taste, cover  and cook for about 15-20 minutes or until rice is soft. While it’s cooking, keep an eye to be sure there’s enough liquid for cooking. That’s it!

Notes and tips: I prefer this dish served at room temperature.  You can use any kind of rice you want really but you can’t beat the aroma of Jasmine. The mint gives the dish wonderful freshness. It’s a versatile dish. When you become tired of the fresh, mint and lemon taste, use other spices. Give it an Indian twist ( and yellow color) with cumin or a Mediterranean twist with tomatoes.  Make it more or less hot, more or less “soupy”, more or less “ricy”.  Lots of possibilities but try this one first!

Broccoli soup

Broccoli soup

No introductions needed. Broccoli soups are awesome. Super healthy, nice velvet texture and so yummy! I know you can find about a million broccoli soup recipes on the  web. Loyal to the core principle of this blog, here’s the simplest, easiest yet super yummy version.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons oil or butter
• broccoli florets from a large head
• chicken broth (about 2-3 cups, enough to just about cover the broccoli, maybe less)
• salt, pepper
• 1 cup heavy cream (or evaporated milk, or milk)

How to make: Saute the onion. Add broccoli. Add chicken broth. Boil for 20 minutes. Add salt & pepper. Puree with hand held blender . When you are ready to serve, add some heavy cream or milk. Give it a good stir and serve with nice multi-grain toasted bread.

Notes and tips: We like broccoli a lot so I almost always have fresh broccoli in the fridge. For the just in case occasion, I also keep a bag of frozen broccoli in the freezer.  For an even creamier texture you can mix 2 tablespoon flour in heated butter, blend with milk and add to the soup. About the chicken broth, well you know your choices, I’m not going to lecture you. Use what you have. I’ve used them all at different times: home made broth, broth in a can, concentrated stock.

Weekend post: “ Melinakia” the funnest snack or appetizer

Ahhh, the pleasures of the weekends! I have to share what happened on Sat. morning. We woke up late and I had to run to the gym before we had a chance to have breakfast. Guess what was waiting from when I got back?!  Eggs with tomatoes! Remember the recipe? My family got it from the blog and prepared it! And it was yummy, too.  Ain’t it nice to have a blog?

This is a weekend post not because it’s hard or time consuming to make. It’s really easy and yummy. Dinner,  though, it is not.  I’m posting it as per my daughter’s request. You see this is an improvised recipe that I made some time ago using leftover puff pastry and named it after my daughter. She loves “Melinakia” and she made herself the ones we had on Saturday! Now my son wants a dish named after him…

Recipe

Ingredients (for about 9 squares)

• pre-cut square puff pastry pieces or regular puffy pastry sheets cut in squares ( approximately 9 squares per sheet, 18 total for a packet with two sheets)
• a few tablespoonfuls of ketchup
• 2 big tomatoes cut in small cubes
• half a pound crumbed feta cheese
• finely chopped parsley
• salt optional

How to make: Put the puff pastry squares in a baking sheet (about 6 fit in mine). Spread ketchup like you’d spread butter on your bread.  Put a tablespoon or more of cubed tomates in the middle of each square. Some salt optional. Add a teaspoon or more crumbed feta cheese on top and top it off with the parseley. Bake in pre-heated oven (390 F) for about 40 minutes or until the pastry gets a nice golden color. Remove from the oven and put the next bunch.

Notes and tips: We made “Melinakia” on Sat. before we went shopping. A rare moment that I wouldn’t have parsley in the fridge but there you go, it happened. I used oregano instead, which you see in the photo. You use parsley, please.   Before posting this, I search the web for ’sfoliatakia’ (reek word for small puff pastry).  I did not find this particular recipe but I found other recipes for what you can put on the pastry. I’ll post them when I’ve tried them.

Spinach pie

Spinach pie with puff pastry and parmesan

Spinach pie with puff pastry and parmesan -- the "interior"

I made spinach pie last night, or `spanakopita’ . This particular recipe is my own version. You probably have tried spinach pies with filo dough, with no cheese or with  feta cheese or with  “kefalotyri” (Greek hard yellow cheese) . This one is  with puff pastry (“sfoliata” in Greek).  Puff pastry is great, you don’t need to butter every sheet, you only need two sheets,  and it’s available in the frozen section of the supermarkets, at least in Greece and the U.S.  Feta cheese and ‘kefalotyri’ are great but they can be hard (and expensive) to find  if you do not live in Greece.  I use Parmesan instead and not even the the super expensive Italian variety that you would probably need for a salad or your gourmet  pasta dish.  I buy about two cups of grated Parmesan from Trader Joe’s for less than $5.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 4-5 tablespoons olive oil or butter
• one chopped onion or 5-7 chopped shallots
• one bag frozen chopped spinach (half a kilo/one pound)
• 1 1/2-2 cups milk
• salt, pepper
• 1 cup chopped parsley & dill mixed (ok if you have only one of the two)
• 4 eggs beaten
• 1 cup bread crumbs (plain)
• 2 cups grated Parmesan
• 2 sheets puff pastry defrosted
• sesame seeds

How to make: Put oil or butter in a large and deep pan. Saute chopped onion or shallots for about 5 minutes. Add spinach and saute for another 5 minutes. Add the milk, cover and cook in low heat for 15 minutes. You may need  2 cups milk but start with 1 1/2 and add midway if you see you’re running low.  When done,turn off the heat and add salt & pepper to your taste.  Stir. Add parsley/dill, stir.  Add bread crumb, stir. Add Parmesan, stir. Add eggs, final stir.  Place one puff pastry sheet (defrosted!) at the bottom of a 4 quart pyrex dish. Using your fingers, stretch it, if needed, so that it covers the bottom entirely and is lifted a little at the sides. Add the spinach mix and spread evenly. Add the second puff pastry sheet on top. Again, make sure that it’s big enough to cover the pan and a bit of  the sides. Using a fork, give it a nice look (and make it stick) by pressing the sides of the pastry against the walls of the pan.  Put some water in a cup and using your finger sprinkle  a few drops here and there on top of the pastry. Sprinkle lots of sesame all over the top and bake for about 50 minutes or until it gets a nice dark gold color (see photo).

Notes and tips. Of course, you can use fresh spinach! I’m giving you the quick way here. Frankly, I can’t remember anymore when I last used fresh spinach for this pie.  If you do use fresh spinach, clean it and put it in boiling water for couple of minutes and then chop it.  The spinach mix must be thick but with a lot of moisture. Before you add it in the pyrex dish, take a good look. If it’s come out too watery, add more bread crumbs. If it’s too dry,  add some milk or better yet one more egg.  I get the puff pastry from a Greek store that happens to make it at the right size for my dish. If you get it from a U.S. supermarket it’s probably a little smaller. Not a problem. When it’s soft, stretch it gently with your hands. Or use a pan that’s the size of the puff pasty sheets but then the mix will be too much.   You do not need to oil/butter the bottom of the pyrex dish when you use puff pastry, in case you were wondering. About the pyrex dish, you probably have heard that there are now pyrex dishes made in China after the company was aquired by World Kitchen LLC that have been reported to explode. So watch out, especially if you got your pyrex recently or if you have thinned it out from many years of use.

Feedback from family: Everybody loves this pie and remains a favorite after many years. My kids started eating this when they were one year old. Spinach rocks!

Chicken soup

Chicken soup

Today, we are having chicken soup for dinner. You can’t beat chicken soup. Everybody’s favorite!  “Delicious and nutritious” as my kids say. I’m offering you the Greek version with the egg and lemon `sauce’ added at the end. I’ve known how to make chicken soup since I was a teenager because my mum would have me help her beat the egg whites.  So, I can’t really give good credits for this recipe. Chrysa Paradisi’s cook book most likely has something similar.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken
• 1 onion
• 2 celery stems
• salt, pepper, optionally dill
• half cup rice (or more if you like it less watery)
• 2 eggs
• 1 lemon

How to make: Fill 3/4  of a large pot with water. Rinse chicken well and put it in the pot.  Peel the onion and add it in the water.  I add the whole onion and remove it when the chicken is done. Add celery sticks cut in small pieces. If you don’t have them, it’s OK but they do add to the taste. Add salt and pepper. Bring water to boil and cook for about 1 hour or until chicken is done. Remove chicken (and whole onion) and add the rice (I rinse it first) and cook for another 15 minutes (depending on the rice).  Remove the bones and skin  from the chicken and cut the meaty parts in smallish cube shaped bites (approximately, don’t go crazy).  You can add the chicken 5 minutes before the rice is done. It’s also OK to add after the rice is done.

Now for the egg sauce. If you are Greek, you probably know the slow way for making it which involves beating the egg whites first. Well, I’m offering you the quick way. Beat two eggs well, white and yolks together, in your mini-food processor. Add the juice of a lemon and a tablespoon of water and beat again.  Put the mix in a large bowl.  Using a big soup ladle, give your soup a stir to cool it off a bit by letting the hot steam get out. While beating the eggs with a fork or a whisk, ladle soup in your egg mix until the bowl  is filled up. Then pour the content of the bowl in the soup pot, stirring gently with your spoon.  Your soup should get a nice yellow color.

Notes and tips: If  you prefer you can add the onion chopped and let it blend with the soup. I just don’t like the look of it in my soup and once the flavor is out, it doesn’t really add much to stay in the soup.  If you want your soup to look like ‘mageiritsa’ –traditional Greek Easter soup–  when you put the salt, pepper and celery add chopped dill. I love it!   I don’t do this anymore because my kids don’t like “the green things” swimming in the soup… When you take the chicken out of the pot for deboning, it’ll be really hot. It’s easier to wait for it to  cool off a bit. This is a good dish to make  while your kid is doing homework on the kitchen table.  For the egg sauce, you should make sure you stir the soup so the steam gets out and it’s not too hot to cook the egg. But don’t wait for more than 5 minutes or so.  If it’s too cool the egg mix doesn’t combine well to give you the nice yellow, thick look.